As of May 16, 2012, USPS has changed part of their mailing rules and standards. Lithium batteries and cells (both rechargeable and non-rechargeable) are now not allowed to be shipped internationally or to any APO, FPO, and DPO locations. This means that mailers also cannot send out products that have lithium batteries inside of them, including tech gadgets such as cell phones, MP3 players, laptops, and digital camera.

After January 1, 2013, limited quantities may be allowed to ship out internationally, as long as "the batteries are properly installed in the personal electronic devices they are intended to operate."

This does not affect the current rules for mailing lithium products within the United States, and lithium batteries (and their corresponding technical products) may still be shipped out normally. However, for international shipping, mailers may have to resort to private carriers such as FedEx.

NEC's unveiled their newest prototype of their Ultra-thin organic radical battery (ORB) today, measuring in at 0.3 mm. These batteries are not only small, but also flexible, and can be attached to integrated circuit (IC) cards. The IC cards themselves aren't too think either (measuring around 0.73 to 0.76mm thickness on average).

The power behind NEC's latest ORB is enough to match a Li-Ion battery. That's not to say that it'll run your laptop, but ratio-wise, it delivers a higher power output and faster recharging speeds. Currently, these new batteries have a capacity of 3mAh, which should be enough to perform 2,000 display screen updates, 360 consecutive flash firings and 35 location transmissions on just one charge. As far as longevity, these ORB's retain 75% of their charge/discharge capacity even after 500 cycles, similar to the performance of Li-Ion smartphone batteries.